Watch List

DOCOMOMO NOCA highlights a "Watch List" of sites on our radar that currently need advocacy attention. The properties are priorities for research, documentation, and educational outreach.

Berkeley Art Museum

Status: Listed

The Berkeley Art Museum occupies a portion of a 1.7-acre, landscaped site at 2626 Bancroft Way in Berkeley. The building is one of the most distinctive landmarks of midcentury modern design in Berkeley, occupying a prominent site opposite the UC Berkeley campus. Designed by the idiosyncratic San Francisco architect, Mario Ciampi, and built in 1970,... more.

Century 21 Theatre

Status: At Risk

The Century 21 Theater occupies a 2.44-acre parcel within the larger Century Theater complex at S. Winchester Boulevard and Olsen Drive in San José. The one-story, concrete-block and steel-frame theater, built in 1964 by theater chain owner Raymond Syufy, is one of the first dome-type theaters constructed for the Cinerama-type projection method in... more.

McGraw-Hill Distribution Center

Status: Not Listed

The McGraw-Hill warehouse and office complex in Novato is located on the west side of Highway 101, between Novato and Petaluma. Occupying a small portion of a larger 93-acre property on the slopes of Mt. Burdell, the warehouse, with its distinctive hyperbolic-paraboloid roof, is a distinctive local landmark. The complex was designed by noted modernist... more.

Status: Altered

Located at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Lincoln Way in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, the Golden Gate Park Hall of Flowers (renamed the County Fair Building in 1986) and the adjoining two-acre Sunset Demonstration Gardens were constructed in 1959 and 1960, respectively. The Hall of Flowers was designed by the firm of Appleton & Wolfard,... more.

Additional Places of Interest

Diamond Heights district:
Parts of the redevelopment district are mixed style-wise, but overall it's probably the most concentrated cluster of well-designed mid-century homes in San Francisco. San Francisco - 1962

Esherick Houses:
Even as one of San Francisco's foremost architects and an acknowledged master, many of Esherick's houses are being altered with large additions or the victim of teardowns.

Expressionist Mid-Century Churches:
Churches are vulnerable to change and can not be landmarked w/out owner consent. But they are highly visible, usually publically accessible, and can display wildly expressive roof forms, design.

Kaiser Roof Garden
Osmundson & Staley designed a garden atop the parking garage next to Kaiser’s headquarters. The garden opened as the first “true” post-World War II rooftop garden in the U.S.

San Jose City Hall:
The former San Jose City Hall civic center complex replaced an 1889 Italianate city hall building located in Plaza Park. The relocation of the City Hall away from downtown was controversial during a period of rapid growth. A new downtown city hall was constructed in 2005. The old site has been transferred to Santa Clara County with unknown plans for its future use. San Jose, CA - 1948 by Donald Francis Haines.

United Nations Plaza:
It was built at the time of the Market Street Reconstruction Project in conjunction with the underground BART system and station on the site. It is an important and rare public space in downtown San Francisco. San Francisco, CA – 1975 by Halprin, Ciampi, ad Warnecke.

Weston Havens House:
The visionary Weston Havens House, designed in 1940 by architect Harwell Hamilton Harris for the philanthropist John Weston Havens Jr. It is currently operated by the Univeristy of California - Berkeley, but exterior surfaces are in a state of disrepair and deterioration. Berkeley, CA - 1940 by Harwell Hamilton Harris

Pleasant Hill Century 21 Dome:
The Pleasant Hill Dome at the Crossroads Shopping Center was designed by San Francisco architect Vincent Raney in the 60s. Similar theaters were were installed all over the west, with 25 in the Bay Area. UPDATE: Despite a grassroots effort, the theater was demolished on May 8, 2013 in favor of a new shopping center. Pleasant Hill, CA - 1966 by Vincent Raney.

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